histology exam #1

Tomorrow is my first real exam. Histology. I know the material pretty well, but i'm still nervous. There is just so much to remember. The professor for this class is the cutest little indian veterinarian. I like his teaching style and he says that my lab drawings are excellent. I really would like to get an A in this class. *fingers crossed*

In other news, we didn't have class today because it is Grenadian independence day. 37 years of freedom. I had plans to write a blog about how the locals have been dressing in yellow, green, and red (national colours) all week, and planned to go to the parade in town and take photos and stuff. At the last minute, I decided that my holiday would be better spent studying. I did wear my Grenada t-shirt (just like this but in red) in celebration though.

HALP! Starfruit!!

Help! I bought some starfruits from the fruit man who comes to school each friday but I have no idea how to eat them!

How do I know when they are ready? Do I chop them into pieces? Peel on? Peel off? What do I do!?!

Please post in the forums if you know. I don't want to waste my $2.
Thanks!!!
(Also, I hope they are not gross!)

water

Ever since I have moved into my dorm, there has been a leaky pipe in the main hallway a couple of apartments down from my door. A large kitchen garbage can has been set up to catch the water that is constantly dripping. It fills up quite quickly as it is quite a powerful leak. Yesterday, we received a notification that the water for the building would be turned off for much of the afternoon, so that workers could repair it. They apologized for the inconvenience, but assured us that the water would be back by 1pm. No big deal, I figured. I would be in class for much of the afternoon.

At 5pm after class, I returned to the dorm. There were three workers in the hall and they had completely destroyed the whole area. Water and pieces of ceiling were everywhere. By 8pm, the workers were gone, the ceiling was still a disaster, and the water was still not working. I made arrangements to shower at a friend's dorm before bed and reminded myself that while it was inconvenient to have no water, at least the leak would be fixed very shortly. Thankfully, by about 10pm, the water had come back on. I showered and went to sleep. This morning when I went to get my morning coffee, I walked past the spot where the leak was.. and couldn't help but notice that the garbage can was back and the leak was worse than ever. I am beginning to think that when things are "fixed" in the caribbean, they actually get broken much worse before the problem is actually resolved. I expect the water to be taken away at least 2 more times before the issue is resolved for real. awesome.

the shakes!

This morning while I was writing my previous post, I felt the floor shaking in my room. At first I thought that maybe people were doing some construction upstairs and I could feel the vibrations or something... but then I noticed that the water bottle on my desk was rippling quite a bit. I was like "huh. this feels pretty weird. are we having an earthquake?" As I have never experienced an earthquake before, I wasn't sure. The vibrations kept going for about 30 seconds, and then stopped. I looked outside and the locals who were working in the yard didn't appear at all concerned... so I continued with my internet-ing.

When I got to class today, I asked a couple of the others if they felt any shaking. They didn't know what I was talking about and looked at me kind of funny. Then I thought that perhaps I imagined the whole thing and began to feel kind of stupid. However, when my roommate got home just now, she asked me if I felt the earthquake. WOO HOO! I'm not crazy!

Anyway, here are the official details. Apparently our quake was a 5.2 on the Richter scale, and it happened about 95km south west of St. George's. A 5.2 is considered to be moderate intensity; shaking is felt, and damage can be done to poorly constructed buildings. I wonder if any of the corrugated iron shacks in town crumpled up? hmmm

The buildings on campus are very well constructed so don't worry about me. They survived hurricane Ivan in 2004 which decimated much of the island, and we have been told that they were built keeping earthquakes in mind as well. I also live on the ground floor of my building, right by an exit so I think I would be in pretty good shape if a bigger quake happened. Let's hope one doesn't though... I think a huge shaker would be quite scary.

internet fail :(

I have a long day today. Here is my schedule:

• Go to the student centre and buy a coffee. Gulp it down without burning myself or getting all overheated and sweaty (like that's gonna happen)
• Histology lab from 9 till noon.
• meet my faculty advisor for the first time at noon.
• Histology lecture 1-2
• Physiology lecture 2-3
• Anatomy lecture 3-4
• Physiology lecture again (yay) 4-5
• gym sometime before bed. bleh.

The internet is going down for 24 hours this afternoon because of some kind of building move so i won't even be able to obsessively check facebook all evening either. I guess it's a good thing. I won't get distracted while I am supposed to be studying. Tomorrow SVECCS (student volunteer emergency and critical care society) is having a beach BBQ in the afternoon so I might go to that. It's at a beach I have never been to before. i'll bring my histology notes and study in the sun. Happy Friday everybody! ok that's it!
xox